Code-names were logged, rather than individual identities, but it was obvious that the athlete referred to as "jump" was Drechsler. When Franke and his wife, Brigitte Berendonk, published their findings, Drechsler dismissed the revelations as "lies". But she lost a libel case brought by Berendonk and was ordered to pay pounds 7,500 and issue a public apology.While evidence was found that Drechsler helped the Stasi by acting as an informer within the track and field team, there is no proof, as Berendonk herself has stated, that she knowingly took banned drugs. Drechsler may have unwittingly accepted them as part of the vitamin and mineral supplementation programme to which all East German athletes were also adhered. Whatever the truth, the fact remains that Drechsler has never failed a drugs test. And she has never been banned."I don't need steroids," she has said. "I'm a big talent." A big talent has done big things in the past 15 years: three world titles, an Olympic gold medal, three European championships and three world records as a long jumper; a European title, two Olympic and one World Championship medal and a world record as a sprinter.Drechsler's best performances as a long jumper (7.48m) and a 200m runner (21.71sec) are superior to those Jones has thus far accomplished in her role as the new wonder woman.
The airline's efforts were applauded warmly in the Jewish Chronicle, which wrote: "Strictly orthodox passengers flying to Israel with British Airways are being protected against the possibility of mid-air moral corruption. The airline is providing special seating arrangements on its 15 weekly Tel Aviv flights from Gatwick and Heathrow which place the in-flight movie screen out of eyeshot of Orthodox passengers. The programme, produced by Prospect Pictures, is provisionally titled Surviving Life, and will be a series of 10 one-hour programmes about people and the problems they face in society today. The Duchess's appearance fee will be donated to designated charities relevant to each show.Safety in the airMultinational corporations are rarely noted for their delicacy in religious matters, but British Airways has announced some unusually precise measures to protect Orthodox Jewish passengers on its flights. David Quarmby, chairman of the ETB, attributed the increase to "new facilities, refurbishment and interpretations encouraging more people to visit historic properties". The most popular free building was Westminster Abbey, which drew 2.5 million visitors. For anyone who sees church visiting as a declining sport, that is roughly double the number of people who go to see Man Utd play at Old Trafford each season.The Sky DuchessThe Duchess of York is to host her own talk show on Sky One from October.
The English Tourist Board estimates that numbers this year will be even higher. The part of Antony was originally offered to Alan Bates, who has been forced out by a knee injury.The Millennium BraggA major new end-of-the-century television series, provisionally entitled Christian Millennium, will be fronted by Lord Bragg (and produced by London Weekend Television, of which Lord Bragg is Controller of Arts). In 20 hour-long episodes, the series will cover the 2,000 years of Christian history and will take the form of a brief film followed by a studio debate.Visiting historyThis week, a report revealed that 71 million people visited historic properties in England last year - a 2 per cent increase on the previous year. Video sales declined last year and the industry is looking to Titanic to save them from sinking any further.Antony and AlanAlan Rickman will play Antony to Helen Mirren's Cleopatra at the National Theatre in October, in Sean Matthias's production of Shakespeare's play. The Lion King holds the record video sale, with 30 million copies. Paramount Home Video has so far taken orders for more than 20 million copies.
The success of the film in the cinema was such that the originally optimistic predictions for video sales were being revised downwards Not any longer. There will be a "virtual tour" of Althorp, and "highlights" from last summer's funeral procession through London. At the centre of the website will be a space called "Your Thoughts", to give browsers the opportunity to e-mail their own thoughts on last year's events.Titanic, the videoTitanic continues to make a larger-than-life splash. At that time, Hemingway was married to his fourth wife, Mary Welsh, and True at First Light was one of four incomplete manuscripts she carried out of Cuba in 1963. Sections of the novel were published by Sports Illustrated 30 years ago, but the full manuscript has never been released. Edited by Hemingway's son, Patrick, it will be part of next year's numerous celebrations planned to mark the hundredth anniversary of the author's birth. Diana in the netToday's special Diana night on Channel 5 will be followed by the launch of a BBC anniversary website to celebrate the life of the former princess, one year on.
